Lille Metropole pledges to provide active support to long-term unemployed

Lille Metropole is the 17th city to sign a pledge to the European Pillar of
Social Rights. The President of Lille Metropole, Damien Castelain, signed a
pledge to provide active support to employment (principle 4), ensure equal
opportunities (principle 3) and promote secure and adaptable employment
(principle 5).

Lille Metropole will invest €5 million in 2019-2020 to provide active support to employment especially to the most vulnerable who have been long-term unemployed, create secure and adaptable jobs in the local economy and ensure equal opportunities for all inhabitants regardless of the area where they live.

To provide active support to employment, Lille Metropole is committed to:

double the municipal budget to deliver a metropolitan action plan for employment

create a public employment service at the level of the metropolitan area

set up a new team to manage the link between demand and offer for jobs and skills in sectors facing skills shortages (industry, IT, call centres, agri-business).

To ensure equal opportunities, Lille Metropole is committed to implement an action plan to boost the local economy in 26 deprived neighbourhoods (with 200,000 inhabitants) to provide sustainable employment by:

mobilising 200 business partners and 1,000 managers from local businesses and employment stakeholders to create 9,000 new jobs by 2023 in order to halve the gap in employment rates between deprived areas and the metropolitan level

setting up a 'Lille Metropole Entrepreneur Factory' with 8 entrepreneurship resource centres to support the creation of new businesses in the most deprived neighbourhoods (information, counselling, banking mediation for start-ups)

setting up a 'mobility platform' with additional services complementary to the public transport network to help job seekers commute to their future employer

To promote secure and adaptable employment, Lille Metropole is implementing a pilot project 'Communities with no more long-term unemployment', which is delivering:

a job-oriented company 'La Fabrique de l'Emploi' was set up to hire 270 job-seekers who were long-term unemployed; 130 jobs were created so far in 2 of the districts with highest level of long-term unemployment

in 2019, Lille Metropole will support with municipal funding the upscaling of the pilot to 5 new districts of the metropole

The President of Lille Metropole, Damien Castelain, said: “More inclusive metropolitan areas are vital to ensure a stronger social Europe. Lille Metropole is committed to contributing to a more inclusive Europe by providing active support to employment, ensuring equal opportunities and promoting secure and adaptable employment".

This is part of the EUROCITIES initiative ‘Inclusive cities for all: Social Rights in my city’. This initiative aims to build political momentum to get mayors and deputy mayors to implement the principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights at local level. We will officially launch this campaign during a political event at the European Parliament on 21 February 2019.